From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection to hour will be made a week from today, when athletes from around the world head to the Olympic Games in Italy, and some of those athletes are athletes from our region.

It's also being made in our local hospitals each day, where visa fees are driving decisions about who's getting hired for nursing and health care.

But first, it's being made with the thousands of drivers traveling.

And if you think about your busiest road, your busiest stretch.

So I live off Lake Avenue.

That's busy.

That's a drag strip.

And wherever you are, you can picture your busiest stretch of road nearby.

You and I want to know, is it walkable?

Do you feel comfortable walking on foot on it?

Do you feel comfortable driving on it?

Well, here's the story out in Brighton.

That are going to be affected by exactly this year.

First of all, they're experiencing all kinds of potholes on Monroe Avenue.

And I know it's not just them.

Everybody's got potholes, but there's a lot of Monroe Avenue.

Those are not long for this world.

As our colleague Jeremy Mole reports.

The New York State Department of Transportation is advancing a project to resurface Monroe Avenue from the Rochester city line to the Interstate 590 Bridge in Brighton.

But as Jeremy will tell us this hour, it is not just a repaving project.

This really is an opportunity to redesign what is effectively Brighton's main street.

So yeah, it's about Brighton, but this is about where you live and what it is, what the psychology of the road is.

And Jeremy's deputy editor for WXXI news.

Hey, hey, welcome.

Thanks for being here.

Oh, thanks for having me.

So I'm reading this story here, but I couldn't help but think of Lake Avenue.

I couldn't help but think of the busiest streets in the town where I grew up.

And I think everybody listening can relate to feeling like, well, I know where it's traffic is craziest, or I know where the the speed limit should change, or I know where we need some kind of change.

In Brighton it's Monroe Avenue.

But it's also it's interesting because when you get down to 12 corners and stuff, that is their main street.

That is.

So it's this both.

It's this thoroughfare that is this busy artery.

But it's also must be like this small town feel.

And there's some dissonance there.

What's going on?

Well, I think you're seeing what you see in a lot of places.

There's, you know, a state highway that cuts through your town.

It's, you know, heavily traveled.

But in Brighton, it's also the place where a lot of the small businesses have, you know, established themselves, grown, whatever, over the years.

It's right next to a bunch of great neighborhoods.

Brighton has a bunch of great neighborhoods.

It's one of the, things I like most about that town.

And there's people out.

They walk, they drive.

They're going places in all kinds of ways.

It's just a very.

It's very busy.

It's, as I put it, the beating heart of Brighton.

And what is the timeline for what we are talking about with this project.

They want to get started.

What did I say.

Fall 2027 and winter 2029.

Okay.

So if you're living in in this area and you're thinking there's the traffic is just too fast, you might be thinking, again, this may be what you're thinking in your town.

We need lower speed limits.

Or you might be thinking, we need more lanes of traffic.

That might be neither of what happens here, because, well, I want you to take us through some of what's being proposed and how it might affect the psychology of the driver.

Sure.

We'll talk about the big change that's coming as part of this right now, Monroe Ave and through the the stretch of Monroe I ever talking about from the city line to the I-5 90 bridge.

It's four lanes wide.

Each of those lanes is ten feet.

And if I remember what the Idot folks told me, that is the minimum legal width for a lane.

You kind of see that.

Now, if you drive down Monroe Ave and try and pass another car there, and we I'm sure you've done it.

I do it all the time.

I yeah, it's tough to fit both cars, but like next to each other, right?

Yeah.

And so you cross over the yellow line or the dotted line or whatever.

They're going to reduce it.

Or at least the plan calls for reducing it down to a center turn lane, two ten foot wide travel lanes and shoulders, which will create some space for cyclists.

There is no space for cyclists now that is a whole separate thing that cyclists will probably want to talk about on a different day.

But let's stick with the car part of this, because what you're describing is not the change that a lot of people would expect.

When people hear, okay, there's there's four lanes, two going each way, traffic is a mess.

So what are we going to do?

We're going to cut it down to one lane going each way with occasionally a center turning lane.

Like I think a lot of people would see that and go, well, that's going to make traffic worse here.

But that's not necessarily true.

It really isn't.

Road design is basically an art.

It's very technical, but it's also very psychological.

And so what what is going to happen here?

They're they're going to take away travel lanes.

But traffic may actually wind up flowing better because there's not the turn conflicts.

There's no place for cars to go when they're turning and get out of the travel lanes.

And there's not this signal that there's four lanes wide open.

You can just go as fast as your heart desires when you narrow lanes, when you take away lanes, that tends to slow traffic down.

Jeremy asked me a question before the program began that you should really pose to our audience, because it's just the psychology of the American driver.

When you look out at the road in front of you, if you see four lanes really wide, there's no bike lanes.

Your your instinct might be like on Lake Avenue.

You might just go, how fast can I go?

I mean, I grew up in the country.

When I see an open road, my first instinct is go, yeah, well floor it.

So now you bring in bike lanes, now you bring in a very different kind of infrastructure.

And even though there's fewer lanes, it might actually free things up.

It might be a more placid set of travel, might be safer, might be safer for walkers.

Right.

It should be.

They hope so.

Yeah.

It should be safer for walkers, especially since, you know, part of the project is sidewalk repairs and some better crosswalks and stuff like that, realigning a couple of side streets.

So, this is by the way, when it's called a road diet.

So when you hear road diet, I mean, like a lot of the folks from reconnection use that term a lot.

And I'm always like, oh, we take adding lanes.

We take it lanes away here.

What do you think of when you think road diet?

I think about what the what's proposed here.

I think of a reduction of travel lanes and on average, according to reconnect a road diet reduces crashes by 30%.

Yeah.

And that's not just, you know, reconnect saying that that actually is a, statistic backed up by research from, the, I'm going to butcher the name of the federal agency, but the Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.

Okay.

And so you talked to Mayor Mello Public information officer for the New York State Department of Transportation, about what road diets do.

And I want to listen to some of what Mayor Mello had to say.

We're really looking at how do we make this corridor more safer and more efficient for motorists, for pedestrians and cyclists, within the parameters of the pavement project?

You've got what you've got now is Dot listening to the public.

But there's something else the public is saying.

Your reporting also says that the the people in this area are not just saying, okay, cool roads, but they want a lower speed limit, right.

At least the town officials do.

Yes.

And so in this case, the speed limit's 35.

A change would be 30.

Reconnect Rochester think 30 makes sense.

Town officials say that the Dot says what the dot is not ruling it out, but they have a process that they go through, for speed reduction requests.

And they are going to wait till after the project is done.

And until drivers have had a chance to kind of adjust to the new pattern to see what speeds look like.

And I just want to like broaden the perspective out here.

We're going to talk soon to some members of Rochester City Council and people been working on vision Zero.

Vision Zero, the idea being no pedestrian deaths, no pedestrian injuries on our roads and no tolerance for that changing the way we structure, the way we drive the culture, everything.

And when some of this idea, some of the ideas for Vision Zero were first put forward last couple years, a lot of people talk about speed limits in the city of Rochester and wherever they live.

It was a lot about speed limits.

So your reporting reminds us that speed limits are not always going to be the first thing.

And people just kind of have to realize that speed limits may change.

They may not.

But that may not be the only solution.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm a city resident.

I live off of Monroe Ave in the city.

I spend so much time on Monroe Ave, and I've seen what some of the engineering improvements they've made have done the, you know, created a bunch of bike lanes and narrowed some roads, reconfigured some things.

They did a lot of it right around where I live.

When they stood up the neighborhood to play.

And it really is it's a two part equation.

And I sometimes think the road design has more influence on how people drive than the speed limits.

Yeah, that's so interesting to think about.

But it's there's a lot of research there.

You also talked to Brighton Town Supervisor Bill Maley, and let's listen to what the supervisor had to say about all this.

Monroe Avenue was not and shouldn't function as just a thoroughfare to take people away from the city.

This is our main street.

We want people to stop.

We want them to shop.

We want them to eat, and we want everybody to be able to do that safely.

So interestingly enough, when you look at 12 corners at the heart of Brighton, that is a very busy place.

But it's unique is probably the right.

It is a unique sort of set of intersections and infrastructure.

So while they're going to be doing this change with Monroe Avenue, what happens at 12 corners, 12 corners is largely the configuration is going to stay largely the same.

One of the points that, one of the designers made is that things are so complex there, and they've taken it's taken such a long time to get things dialed in to where they are.

It sounds like it's kind of a situation where if you tweak one thing, it's going to throw everything off.

So when it comes to those, you heard the supervisor two saying that people like to walk, people like being in that area.

Are you comfortable walking down on all throughout Manor Avenue, that whole corridor, but 12 corners, where are you comfortable walking?

I am, I am.

I may not be the best, the best person to pull on this because I'm pretty comfortable in places where there's a lot of traffic anyway, like walking down roads or biking.

But yeah, I do feel comfortable walking down Monroe Ave.

I think it could be a little more pleasant in some spots.

More of a pleasant experience.

That might just be because of a film I watched recently that talked about some of that, but, it I think it does.

But I do appreciate that there's some thought to making roads more comfortable for pedestrians, especially in a place like Brighton where you could if you're not from the area, you can park your car and you can walk around a place.

It's pretty easy.

You're a country mouse and yet you're acting like a city.

Well, you're a city mouse.

Yeah, I am, I've been in the city for like 20 years now.

So, Mayor Miller, also in your reporting for Sky news and the Dot told you that they understand people don't like it, especially if you're a pedestrian.

You don't like seeing cars going 50 in a 35.

You don't like to see people gun in it.

You don't feel safe.

What part of what she said is, let's wait and see what happens when we do this road diet.

Because that speed limit at 35, what's the effective speed right now?

It might be 40, 45, whatever.

Let's see if it becomes more right around that speed limit without having to drop it to 30 if naturally that change occurs.

Right?

I mean, that's possible here.

Yeah.

I think that's very, very much the case.

I speed limits are a signal, right.

They they tell us how they tell us what somebody thinks is the safe speed to go here.

Yeah.

Now people don't always obey that or they drive what they think is the comfortable speed.

I'll admit I do that.

That's why I look at that engineering of a road and think maybe that has more of an influence.

Right.

Let's get you in a little bit of trouble before I let you go.

Then.

It's any speed limit.

You're at your psychology as a driver.

You've been talk about the psychology of the driver on the road.

What is the speed that you can drive and not get pulled over?

Oh, the speed that I can drive and not get pulled over.

I don't know if I should reveal that information, but I aim for about five miles an hour.

Five over.

Yeah.

You're never going to get pulled over.

I know that's the goal.

I don't want to pay a ticket.

To me, it's the speed limit plus nine.

All right?

Anything.

And that is safer.

But I understand why, some officers who are listening right now.

Hello?

Officers are thinking, okay, in a 55.

That's one thing, Dawson.

But when it's 30, we don't love 39.

And maybe I should reset my own psychology at it.

Yeah, and there's a very good reason for reducing your speed.

Even five miles an hour or two.

And that's if you if something if the worst happens and you do strike someone with your vehicle and you're going over the speed limit, speed limit can really have a big effect on whether that person lives or dies.

That's right, that's right.

I mean, the survivability people might not think about it.

And I mean, this might have been in your piece, two five mile an hour increments, changed the survivability a lot.

Yeah, the percentage jump is pretty huge.

I wish I could remember it off the top of my head, but I can't.

All right.

Last thing here.

We've been talking about pedestrians.

This this project will include what better intersections, that kind of thing a little bit more infrastructure for pedestrians.

Yeah.

The there are some, you know, improved crosswalks planned.

There's one that's I think, going to be a little more, noticeable than others, but they're also doing some, some things that with the intersections of the side streets, which will make it, I think, traffic a little more, predictable and controlled, or at least I think that's the aim there.

Okay.

And yeah, the and I, I lost your question.

All right.

So so let's before we let you go, let me grab Molly and Penfield, who's got a separate question for Jeremy Moll.

Go ahead.

Molly?

Hi.

Are you there?

Yep.

You're there.

All right.

I'm so excited about this topic.

As a resident of Penfield, when I first heard about the great.

And I'm hoping we can make it happen in Penfield.

Do you know of any talks for, like.

So I think of the 441 corridor, primarily from, the panoramic trail.

If you're coming from 490, like, all the way up to possibly Wegmans, the posted speed limit is 31.

However, that's rarely followed.

And so I would love to shrink that down to two lanes and really get some biking and walkability in that area.

So I didn't know what your guess knew anything going on in Penfield or who?

The avenue that I should start this conversation with.

You got a new supervisor?

Thought he was on the town board and he might be worth a call.

I don't know.

But, Jeremy, I don't know of any plans like that in Penfield.

Yeah.

I'm not aware of any.

Usually these kinds of things come as part of a resurfacing or, reconstruction project.

What I do know is I was actually just on the Town of Penfield webpage before coming down here, and they had a, news item about, some sort of agreement or something.

They have now with the county sheriff's office for traffic enforcement.

And 441 is one of the roads that they are prioritizing.

There you go.

Oh my gosh, Jeremy, we might have might not be able to let Jeremy leave.

I see the phone ringing again.

I mean, it's like people are fired up about.

But that's why I said at the outset here, this is the story that you wrote is about Brighton right now, but it's it.

Everybody can think of their own Monroe Avenue, their own.

441 right?

Yeah.

I mean, from a journalist perspective, a road project is never just a road project.

Well said.

Great work on this.

Jeremy is going to be following this story.

Molly, keep us up to date.

Have you heard any changes in in Penfield?

And we'll do the same with our news department as well, because I know wherever you are listening right now, there is some road where you go.

I cannot believe the speed limit or I cannot believe this traffic set up.

And somebody is studying, making a change there.

That's every town in our region.

Great stuff Jeremy, thank you very much.

Well, thank you for having me, Jeremy.

Sexy news.

Short break coming back with my colleague Raquel Stephen next.

I'm having Dawson Monday on the next connections, we're joined by Assembly member Damon Meeks from the New York State Legislature talking about a wide range of issues, starting with ice.

If ice surges in Rochester and in our communities, what does the Assembly member think we should do?

What does he think the appropriate response from New York State is or is not?

We'll start there.

We'll take your questions, comments and more with Assembly Member Meeks.

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This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson and my colleague Rachel.

Stephen is here.

She's WXXI news is health equity and community reporter and producer.

And we're Kelly.

You've been reporting on how current threats to immigration are actually affecting health care, specifically how nurses are recruited from around the world.

I thought this story was so interesting and how the new Trump administration has visa fees really ratcheted up that is affecting how many nurses essentially we can afford, health systems can afford, whether they come here or not.

We're going to get to that in a second.

But first, why do we need international nurses in the United States, including in our region?

Yes.

So, you know, ever since the Covid 19 pandemic, there's been a shortage of of nurses in, in our hospitals, in our, in our health care facilities.

A lot of nurses moved down south.

A lot of them just left the profession altogether because that was a very chaotic time.

And so hospitals were relying a lot on travel nurses, recruited through agencies.

And that was, even though they're, you know, they're great.

And it was a great, filler.

They were expensive.

They are expensive.

Travelers are in high demand and in a higher salary.

So that was putting a kind of a financial burden on, on the hospital systems.

So, International Nurses was a way of recruiting, nurses from out of the country that could stay here longer.

So we're talking longevity, and we're also talking about, you know, longevity also means less financial burden.

So throughout this conversation with Ricola, you're going to see some images.

If you're watching on YouTube, our colleague Max Sheltie doing some great work in photojournalism.

Some of the nurses that we're talking about here, I just want to put a fine point on what we're saying here.

There is this ongoing refrain that we hear when immigration comes up.

Yes.

When some people will say Americans should be doing those jobs, they should not be going to people who are not Americans.

And again, the point being, we can't fill all those jobs right now.

No, not since the pandemic.

So there we are now.

Many international nurses who come to work in the United States need a specific kind of visa.

What is that?

That's the H-1b visa.

That's for like high, highly skilled professionals.

So this particular job requires, requires these nurses to have H-1b visas, especially those from the Philippines, where, this particular hospital system, we're talking about Rochester Regional, they recruit a lot of nurses from, the Philippines.

So here we go.

Here.

The current issue is that high visa costs, yes, making it more difficult for health care systems to do international recruitment.

And when we say high visa costs, you ready for this?

What's what's the new fee?

Look it's actually pretty flattering right.

So if I was a nurse I'm like, oh, this is how much I cost.

It's 100,000, $100,000, a 100,000.

Yes, US dollars.

Yes, per visa, per visa per nurse.

And so, so now the health systems have to go, like, I don't know if we can do that.

Yes.

I mean, we have to slow down on on that, right?

So, how many people have, for example, are recruited globally and generally from where.

Okay.

So I believe this started into 2024.

So within that year, the initial the initial cohort was about 24 nurses and that more than quadrupled.

So now they have about 100.

And to be specific, 157 or so in, in the Rochester Regional Health System.

Yes, 157 if they all came with $100,000 price tag.

Oh, some majority, no math.

Yeah, the majority do.

They also recruit from different countries that don't require it.

But most, a lot of nurses in the Philippines are eager to, to come to America and join our healthcare system.

So from our reporting, let's listen to some of the sound.

Dan Ireland is the executive vice president, the chief nursing executive and patient care officer for Rochester Regional Health.

And he talked about how the fees are affecting recruitment.

We have to figure out how to overcome the large costs now that is in place with the H-1b that's slowing down the pipeline, a little bit of working through that.

Now we're navigating that where we're keeping in contact with these nurses.

But for every month we wait and bringing people on, we risk losing them to go to another country.

And many of them can't wait forever.

Yeah, I can understand that.

Can't wait forever.

Yeah.

There's more countries out there than just us who might take somebody.

Yeah.

That need that need to fill that, that gap more, more states actually.

Right.

They need to fill that gap within their health care system.

So and if you're eager and you're ready to go, you're, you're a lot of nurses.

1 in 1 nurse I interviewed, she said that Rochester Regional, their values aligned with her values.

And that's why she chose to to to come here.

So a lot of them are waiting to come here.

They have friends here.

And colleagues here.

They're speaking highly of our system.

But these visa fees are forcing hospital system to choose, like what is more important for our health care system.

Yeah.

And Ireland told you we got a clip.

One more clip with Ireland where he talked about how, yeah, the quantity issue is gonna be a problem.

But they're trying to focus on quality, not just quantity.

Let's listen now.

We're always balancing the quality of the nursing programs they come from.

So this isn't about just getting people, but it's getting the right people because the quality of health care is equally as important as the provision of health care.

And so we're really balancing that out and saying, where are the best schools for us to go to, and how can we work with those countries to to offer opportunities for those, those nurses to come work here?

Yeah, I mean, I would I would love Dan to be sitting here.

I'd be like, are you just spinning because it's so expensive now?

I mean, I look, he's they got to do what they can to, to put a good face on this and try to bring the, the, the highest quality people.

Sure.

Yes.

Especially when you might not be able to bring a quantity that you would want.

So you know that it's a hard spot and it is it is a hard spot.

And, and especially now when we we need nurses more than ever.

And we're doing a lot of things here locally as well to to get nurses out and to, to push nurse nurses out of our, our schools and into our system and into our community.

But is that is that enough?

And global nurses are helping to fill that gap.

And there are different rules in other countries.

As you've reported, Canada, Australia, for example, don't have H-1b visa requirements.

So you had a chance to speak with is it silica?

Yep.

Silica metabolite.

Silica ballot.

Who's from the Philippines?

She's been at RGA for a year.

Yes.

And she said adjusting wasn't easy, but there is a lot of support.

I want to listen to one of the clips there.

At first, there's a language barrier, right?

Because we don't have that, we don't have that accent that you guys have.

So when when we came here, that's what we tried first learn it and adapt with it, but basically with the machines, it's an easy, easy task to learn.

Okay.

You know, so a lot of things to consider for people who are coming in here.

Yeah.

Language, culture, tech.

Yeah.

But she seems to be doing well.

She's all yeah, she's doing well.

There's a there's a great supports and they actually have their own union.

I would say these global nurses formed their own group in, in silica is actually the president of that group.

So what they do is any newbies, they come in quote unquote.

That's what they call them.

They kind of help them acclimate.

Right.

And teach them about Rochester.

She joked about, you know, the snow and driving in the snow.

You know, they figured out what the best Filipino restaurant is already, and it has helped them, like, adjust to this new health care system and, and the people in the community.

Yeah.

I think we got one more clip with Celica about exactly that.

Let's listen.

Filipino nurses, for example, are very known for that word malasakit that genuine compassion towards patient.

That's what we have.

That's what should every nurse have.

You know the the heart for taking care of the patient.

Yeah.

So this union of of nurses that is talking about, they feel like the solidarity, like they're going to be with this really patient first group of people.

They're going to make themselves indispensable in this community.

Yes.

And they're going to figure it out.

Yeah.

They are.

And and they, they have the passion.

Right.

And they talk about like I talked about having that passion, what a good nurse is.

And I think that that that mission and that, that, goal is felt I think is universal.

It's universal.

What a nurse.

What a what a great nurse is.

So is just a matter of is not, as Dan Ireland said, is not is the quality as well.

Like we do have great nurses and they're bringing their skill set from their country here and and their moral standing here and is all about just adjusting to our equipment and our climate.

Jack emailed to ask, could individual nurses pay the $100,000 fee?

Well, first of all, I mean, that's a huge fee for an individual.

Wow.

Yeah, I think it's I, I, I don't want I can't speak on that, with fact but I can say I think that's, I assume the institutional.

Yeah.

I presume it's the institute.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know how many people out there looking for jobs.

Yeah, from the Philippines, wherever they're coming from, around the world can just drop 100,000 on a visa.

I know, and for me, I, I, I Ireland.

I said, well, with this fee, do you still think it's a better decision than having travel nurses.

Right, right.

Because part of this was to eliminate the fee from travel nursing.

And he said, yeah, I still think global nurses is the better option.

Okay.

So what do you think is next here?

I think, well, the institutions are going to advocate for health care being vital and needing to waive this fee.

Yeah.

And not having them pay that.

And also right now recruiting from countries that possibly don't need that H-1b like Puerto Rico and, Canada.

So yes, I was looking elsewhere.

Okay.

So recruit elsewhere, see if we can get the fee waived.

The last thing that I wish that I could do is I'd love to sit down with someone from this federal administration and just ask why hundreds like why I don't why I don't fully understand that part of it.

Yeah.

I mean, I, I someone's going to email me and say, you're so naive, Evan.

The answer is they're trying to limit the flow of people from foreign countries to this country, period.

Yeah.

And maybe so.

Yeah.

But we're talking in this case about health care.

Yeah.

We're talking a huge need of nursing in this country.

We've got a shortage.

We can't just fill it with Americans.

And these are very highly qualified people.

Yes.

Coming in.

Yeah.

So why 100,000?

Why create this big barrier.

Because it's a it's a big barrier.

And it would require a lot to get over.

And now with our current administration, we do know that they're placing a heavy focus on immigration and a, a high threat to immigration.

We see ice everywhere, and I did I did ask if if Ice is an issue, do we fear Ice?

Do these nurses fear in the health care system, in the health care system?

And they say, Dan said Ireland said, no, Ice is not a fear is just, you know, they can't go back to their country if they want to go visit.

The fear is them like coming back.

Would I have to pay that extra fee for them to come back even though they've been here?

So it's it's other country.

So the nurses who are already here.

Yeah.

They fear feel like if I go home just to visit family, say in the Philippines, can I come back?

I may not be able to get back in.

Yes.

That's the biggest fear.

And they love it here.

They love it.

You know, Celica mentioned that, you know, in the Philippines their health care system is strained with financial burden as well.

So you don't have that high tech equipment that we have and they can't train with the equipment that we train with.

So they love it here.

She's like, I don't want to go anywhere, I don't want to go.

And that fear of not being able to return is real for our global nurses.

Great work as always.

Thank you.

Thanks for coming in here.

Thank you.

Rachel.

Stephen, very important story there.

Short break and we're coming right back and we're going to finish with that.

Talk about the Olympics.

I'm Evan Dawson Monday on the next connections.

We're joined by Assembly member Damon Meeks from the New York State Legislature talking about a wide range of issues, starting with ice.

If ice surges in Rochester and in our communities, what does the Assembly member think we should do?

What does he think the appropriate response from New York State is or is not?

We'll start there.

We'll take your questions, comments, and more with Assembly Member Meeks.

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This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson, and we are days away from the Winter games.

The Winter Olympics in Italy in 2026.

Coming your way soon.

And just saw the news flash this afternoon.

Not a lot of Olympic, athletes break through to, like, household name.

I think Lindsey Vonn is on that list.

And apparently she was, taken off the mountain in a scary crash after injuring her left knee.

We're a week away from the Olympics.

She's 41.

She's competing again.

It's been a big story.

This kind of come back.

And she is now saying that her Olympic dream is not over.

After a scary crash while competing at the Milan Cortina.

She's not ruling out competing at Milano.

But looks boy, it looks rough.

So, it just shows you how dangerous, how one crash, one edge of your your your bobsled blade, your ski, your snowboard.

It is so tenuous.

And it is a four year dream.

We're going to be bringing in Chris Lillis, an Olympic gold medalist.

He's there.

Hey, Chris is there.

And Chris is.

How's it going?

A 2022 gold medalist from Pittsford, a member of the U.S.

alpine freestyle team, and is with us now, joining us from, I think, training camp in Lake Placid.

Is that right, Chris?

That's correct.

Yeah.

Here in the Olympic Training Center.

Just about to do my warm up and then start jumping here in a few hours.

Awesome stuff.

So thank you for making a little bit of time for us here.

And I think we've got freestyle coach Johnny, is it Johnny Crites?

Johnny at Bristol Mountain?

Yep.

I'm here.

Johnny, it's great to have you as well.

What's it like at Bristol today?

Johnny?

Well, I am actually on the road on the Thruway right now, heading up to Lake Placid.

Very good.

I got to check in with Chris and make sure he's training.

Did enough.

Very good.

So, Chris, when you hear news like, you know, Lindsey Vonn, we're not sure just how bad this injury in this crashes, but it just shows you how one moment can change years of training.

And I wonder what goes through your mind when you hear something like that.

Yeah, I read about it this morning.

Super unfortunate for Lindsey, you know, feel terrible for her.

It's something that we as athletes and Olympians, we deal with, every four years when it gets around this time.

Obviously, it's never a good time to take an injury or take a bad crash, but, when you kind of get to the waning days and weeks before the Olympics.

Yeah.

I mean, it's just, you know, unfortunate bad luck for her.

And, I feel terrible for her.

And, you know, something we're all trying to avoid.

But then just speaking as an athlete, it's not really something that you can avoid or spend too much time thinking about.

You just gotta keep doing what you do, training as hard as you can, and try and be ready when the time comes.

I don't know, man.

If I were you, I think I'd be bubble wrapped until the games begin.

Unfortunately, that's not how it works at all.

I mean, actually, some of our more aggressive and hard training happens in those few weeks and days before the Olympics.

You know, there are athletes that in the past and different situations maybe have to, you know, change their training depending if they have an injury going or something like that.

But at the end of the day, I've always looked at as like, you've got two options.

You can go to the Olympics to go to the Olympics, or you can go to the Olympics to win the Olympics.

And in order to go to win, you got to train pretty damn hard.

And those last few weeks before it.

So for you here, what's on your mind most now?

About a month ago, you you talked to our colleague Brian Sharp about what your feelings were at that point.

And now we're a week away.

What's on your mind most?

And how are you feeling?

Mostly just excited.

I have the benefit of this being my second Olympics, so a lot of the stuff that we go through as athletes, whether that's training or preparing.

Maybe four years ago, felt very overwhelming.

Not saying that it's any more or less difficult to compete, but, everything feels pretty familiar.

I know where I'm at in the process.

I kind of have a pretty good idea of what I need to accomplish in order to be successful at the Olympics.

And so it's really just waking up every day and just doing the little things, right.

I mean, that's what I'm focused on.

It's like, you know, getting good sleep, good recovery, good training, you know, training hard and just focusing on those little details.

Because when it comes to the Olympic Games, it's the little details.

That's the thing that makes the biggest difference.

We are talking to Chris Lewis, who is an American freestyle skier, 2022 gold medalist in the mixed team aerials event.

And if you're watching on YouTube and the Action News YouTube channel, you can see some of the shots that just look like he is flying.

I mean, it's just really, really remarkable.

And I want to talk to Chris and Johnny about how you train in this way here.

And Chris, maybe I maybe come back to your childhood.

What's the first time that you were upside down on, skis?

How old were you?

I want to say I was ten years old.

Johnny would, you know, was right there with me.

He was clear me for my very first backflips and Bristol mountains.

Really?

Where my journey towards the Olympics started.

And, it's a place that holds a very special, you know, place in my heart for getting me started on, on a journey that really has been the pleasure of my life.

I trained at Bristol for mogul skiing and aerial skiing since I was, like, seven years old with Johnny.

Took me up to the pool in Lake Placid.

That's where we did our first flips.

Got that qualified, did that at Bristol Mountain for the first time, and really, that's where I did almost 100% of my ski training until I moved to Lake Placid to join the U.S development team.

Since then, we've built a water ramp facility and a snow site at Bristol Mountain.

So we've got a great crew of kids.

Johnny, you could probably test me on the numbers, but I think it's like 70 kids on the freestyle team, which when I'm pretty sure when I was on the team, it was more like ten.

And, you know, a lot of those kids I look at as potentially being future Olympians from the Rochester area, and they've got all the facilities and, you know, the support system necessary to make that happen.

Johnny, can you add to that?

Yeah.

No doubt.

You know, we've built a tremendous, program there, and a lot of it is thanks to, athletes like Chris, who have excelled at the elite level going to the Olympics.

But we have three other Olympians from from Bristol, Dylan Walsh.

Zach is going to join Chris, in Italy and mogul, and, in 2018, Morgan Shields competed in moguls.

And John Wallace, Chris's older brother, competed and and Korea for the US in the Olympics.

So that and we do have as Chris mentioned, we do have about 70 athletes and we have kids as young as nine that are qualified to flip now on snow and, and are doing so really, really well.

And, and hats off to Chris and all his teammates for coming back to Bristol.

They were here in December.

And they support the athletes and they follow them and follow their progress.

And it's really such a great community to have these kids be able to look up to.

Chris and a lot of his teammates.

Chris, did you feel like do you feel like the development is I mean, I'm sure you feel like it's appropriate.

I just ask because, you know, I've got a 13 year old son who's a snowboarder, and there's no way I think he should be upside down, you know?

I mean, I would look at him and go, this is an injury waiting to happen.

You got to do it in steps, I'm sure.

And you got one of the great coaches in the world which helps at Bristol Mountain.

But take me through the sort of the psychology, especially that kids feel when they're starting to do things that are, you know, maybe a little outside their comfort zone.

Well, I mean, I guess the biggest thing I would say is that the training is the most important thing.

So, you know, you kind of as ski resorts around the country, a lot of times you'll see kids kind of hugging backflips in the park and in the train park with very little supervision or really training or ability.

And in my experience, that's where kind of accidents tend to happen at Bristol.

The one thing that I can say is that we always take a lot of care that no kid does a flip or does really any trick that they're not ready for.

And that starts on the trampoline, learning things on the trampoline and then moving to the water ramp into the pool, making sure that not only you're doing the flips correctly, but you're you're landing correctly and that the kids are comfortable.

And these are hundreds of repetitions before they ever get done on snow.

Then you've got coaches like Johnny who are very experienced with kids, making sure that the actual jump site and the things that these athletes are using to do the flips is like, correct.

And that is safe, as safe as can possibly be.

And when all those steps are kind of hit on the way up, usually you see kids land that backflip or that very, you know, that trick that they've been working towards the very first time.

You know, I kind of look at it.

It's so funny.

I do quintuple twisting triple backflips on snow.

Ski into the jump.

40 miles an hour, goes 60ft in the air.

But the preparation that I do for those big maneuvers that people will see me do at the Olympics or at World Cup competitions, it's very similar to the preparation that I did for my very first flips.

It's hundreds of repetitions into the pool.

It's training on a trampoline.

It's having your coach kind of like watching your project progress and making sure that you're ready.

And then you know, when these moments come, generally you're very prepared for it.

Okay.

I'm going to say that again here for you.

You hit it at 40 miles an hour.

A Quinton more like 44, but 44 miles an hour, quintuple twist, triple backflip.

Yep.

That's kind of my highest.

It's the highest degree of difficulty that we do in the world, really.

People are kind of trying to figure out how to put a six twist in that triple backflip.

It hasn't been done yet, but, you know, for now, yeah, that's that's the tricks that we do.

So do you remember the first time that you did that?

I mean, did you feel like, what am I doing here?

Or did you feel prepared for it?

The Quinn.

Yeah.

Oh, I was I do remember the first time I did it, I was in Ruka, Finland.

It was six years ago now, which kind of feels crazy to me because every time I go step in the gate to do that trick, I'm still relatively terrified.

It's, it's a very high risk maneuver.

I'm planning on doing some later today, and I'm still stressed about that.

And, just trying to make sure that I'm prepared, but really, it's like, kind of you're trying to battle emotions, right?

Like fear and being scared are all supernatural emotions.

A lot of times they actually help you perform well.

They help you, you know, focus and be ready to go.

But at the same time, I know that my training and the things that I've done to prepare myself for these tricks is as good as possible.

So if anything doesn't go my way, it's just kind of, meant to be as messed up as that sounds.

And you just try and just focus.

I mean, it's so it's such a wild ride.

It really just feels like going on a roller coaster with no handlebars and, but these jumps, they kind of come at you slower than you'd think.

And, you know, when the moment comes, you really just kind of switch into all that training that you've done over the years.

To prepare yourself for it.

So the fear generally stops when you turn your skis, and then after that it's just, you know, trying to execute and make to the ground.

Unbelievable.

Talking to Chris Lillis, the 2022 gold medalist from Pittsford and a member of the U.S.

alpine freestyle team.

And a question for both of you, maybe right along the lines of what Chris was just describing, just the difficulty of moves like this.

If you go back and watch winter sports from 40 or 50 years ago, you know, I mean, I it's the same way that when my, my son watches NBA highlights from the 1970s and the announcers are amazed that, you know, a move that leads to a fast break layup and he's like, everybody does that now.

Like what do we why were they hooting and hollering over.

You know what looks like typical now.

And you know they go crazy for a dunk in the 70s.

Now everybody can jump off the moon.

So if you look at winter sports from 50 years ago, the ice skating was different.

The you know, the amount of spins and you know, the lutz, the south cows, the axles.

Now we got a quad God on the US, Winter Olympic team.

And we've got men and women doing things that they couldn't do generations ago.

When it comes to aerials and skiing, it looks different.

It looks more dangerous and difficult now.

And I'm curious to know, Chris.

Well, really, for both you.

I'll start with Chris.

Are we close to seeing the limits of what human beings can do, or are we going to see if I can fast forward 25, 30 years in the future?

Is somebody going to be doing a quintuple axel on the ice?

Is somebody going to be doing, you know, a couple twist in the air or are we close to the human limits?

You think, Chris, if I had to be honest, I'd say I doubt it.

And, you doubt whether you.

Yeah, I doubt that we're at the limit.

I really do, because there's kind of two things that kind of spring to mind when you ask that question of why the advancement in a lot of sports, you're seeing that, I mean, just every four years, even, aerial skiing advances far beyond what it was when I first started out on World Cup tours, and especially when I was, ten years old, kind of looking up to some of these guys.

But there's two things.

One, it's facilities.

It's the things that make us safe and allow us to do these, these jumps.

The you know, if I look back at the 70s and 80s and some of the hot dog days of freestyle skiing, those guys I look at, I'm like, they are crazy because they were doing, you know, similar tricks, maybe not quite as many flips and twists as what we're doing these days, but the facilities and the jumps that they were jumping off, we're like, you know, for lack of a better term, they sucked.

They were just terribly shaped.

They were not like the speeds, the different things that we used to kind of get these things right.

We're not nearly at the same caliber as what we have today.

And, the second thing is that at least from acrobatic skiing, it's a science.

So every generation of skiers passes on a better understanding of just scientifically, how to do flips and twists and how to get them down to your feet.

So, you know, a lot of those guys are the pioneers of my sport.

They really didn't know what they were doing.

They were kind of just cats out of a window, just checking it and seeing if they could get it around.

Where nowadays, just through the development of sports, we have a very acute understanding of what specific maneuvers that you need to do with your body, what things that you need to train in order to have success.

And then it's just like Legos.

It's just building on one another.

And so I look at the young kids these days, especially the ones trying to Bristol Mountain with all those great facilities, as they will probably be able to do tricks that I do.

And some would like record breaking jumps that I've done with relative ease.

That doesn't mean without fear, but with relative ease.

They'll have the skills and the ability to do it.

And then, I bet you that they keep adding and then, you know, invent something new to pass on to the next generation after them.

Amazing.

What do you think, Johnny?

I couldn't agree with Chris more.

I mean, when when I was competing back in the days in the 90s, you know, a 360 was a huge thing in moguls.

For instance, you know, and now it's they're doing backflips and all sorts of stuff.

And having the facility we have at Bristol, you know, we used to when Chris was young, we would go down to Lake Placid or up to Lake Placid 5 or 6 days a year.

Now the kids are training 50 or 60 days a year.

Right.

Because it's right in their backyard.

And the progression that we're able to do and the work we're able to get done is so amazing.

And and the safety that's involved here, we don't have to rush things.

We can get spend our time doing, just a simple take off and then working on just a single back up and then a single backflip with a twist.

And it's just there's so much more time and available resources now to train.

I, I just see the sky's the limit.

Johnny, just briefly, we had a question from a listener named Joel who is asking if there are resources or programs to help kids who don't come from, you know, families that have a lot and but still want a chance to get on the mountain.

Yeah.

I mean, so we are based, trying to do this, relative cost.

So the, the fees that are charged here are very, very, very low comparatively, but it still is somewhat of an expensive sport.

But yeah, certainly they can reach out to the mountain and, they will get him into contact with us and we can see what we can do to come up with a plan, to, to get training for anyone that really wants it.

So let's get people set to watch.

Chris, you, you are going to be competing.

What's the day one for you, Chris?

So people can put it on the calendar?

Gosh, I'm like the worst person to ask these questions to because we basically just get, letter out.

So let me just try to do a little math here.

I get there on February 4th.

I think opening ceremonies are on February 6th.

And then, if I'm not mistaken, our first day of competing should be February 10th.

That's what I think qualifications will be for the individual event.

Then, we have a day off for the men.

The women will do finals that next day on the 11th.

I think that finals for me on are on February 12th.

Assuming that I make it.

And then we have a team event on February 15th.

That sounds right to me, but it could be off by day.

Honestly, it's like we get there and they just tell us where to go.

And, to a certain extent, we're just focusing on the jumping in the training and then also just taking in all those great experiences, from the Olympics.

But I'm like the worst when my parents would know a hell of a lot better than I do.

I'll tell you that.

Chris, I know that every athlete should say that they're there to win gold, but realistically, you have won a gold in the past.

What are you entering?

What's the bar that says I'm going to go home feeling good?

If what?

Well, the bar that whether I competed well or performed well is not the bar that will be the same as whether I feel good or leave, you know, happy.

Honestly, it sounds silly, but like you want an Olympic medal around your neck.

You want a gold medal.

That's what we're there for.

I take a tremendous amount of pride in representing the United States.

And there's.

If there's one thing I know about people from the US is that when they watch their Olympians compete, they expect to see champions.

And so that's the goal.

It's, I always tell people it's a lot more difficult to qualify for the Olympics than it is to win the Olympics.

When you get into that event and you're one of the 25 athletes in the world that have, you know, the qualifications and the ability to win, then it's just having a good plan, executing that plan, putting everything you've got into it and then just a little bit of luck never hurt anybody.

And if I can get those things going for me, I feel confident I'll be able to come home with a medal.

You know, there's a lot of stuff that I can't control, and especially in a judged and subjective sport, you know, whether I'm going to get the scores that I need, whether I'm going to get the wind gust or the, you know, just the certain little details that really go into becoming an Olympic champion.

But, I would say that the things that make me the most proud is how I approach big events and how I approach the Olympics.

I go there to win.

I'm going to put everything I can into it.

And, if things go my way, I'm going to walk home with a medal around my neck.

Well, listen, Rochester's rooting for your brother.

And before I let you go, since we're going to hear the music in a second and we got a roll here.

How's your Italian?

Not very good.

To be honest, I always.

I joke around with people.

I travel the world for a living, and I know about seven words in about seven different languages, but, you know, the people in Italy are, you know, extremely friendly.

It's a great place to go compete and train.

And, English is the international language, which has always been very helpful for me.

My French is a little bit better than my Italian.

You know, when you're back in the Rochester region and this is all done no matter what happened, come on in and sit down for an hour.

I'd love to talk to you about what you think, how much you think kids and family should devote, and what's too much, and how you how you become competitive in this hyper competitive world.

There's so many other things.

We even get to come back some time.

We'd love to have you.

Yeah, well, I'll definitely be back in the Rochester, area.

Win, lose or draw.

And, I would love to come sit down.

The only thing I'll say just on that note is that if your kids have a dream of being an Olympian, I know a lot of people that have trained their heart out and have become Olympians and also have fallen up short of that, but I've never really met someone that was disappointed by the journey.

It's a hell of a ride, and, I definitely recommend it for any young kids out there that are watching Chris Lewis, Johnny Price.

Good luck guys.

Thank you very much.

Well.

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